February 27, 2021; 9:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. (AST)
This first ever province-wide Seedy Saturday will welcome people from all corners of New Brunswick to learn about all things gardening.
From seeds to composting - we've got you covered! Note that our sessions will be recorded so that any knowledge gained can be re-watched from our YouTube channel in the future.
ENGLISH/FRENCH
Get connected before jumping into a full day of activities and network with participants from all corners of New Brunswick. Bring a warm cup of coffee or tea, and meet your gardening peers.
ENGLISH/FRENCH
ENGLISH
When life hands you dirt plant seeds! Resilient seed systems are essential to food security and resilient food systems. Come learn about the Bauta Family Initiative on Canadian Seed Security and resources that exist to support ongoing seed knowledge and sharing. |
Steph Hughes
ENGLISH
Dig into backyard composting with John Castell! You’ll learn what to put in your home compost bin, the difference between hot and ambient temperature composting, how to have finished compost in 3 to 4 months, and a variety of tools to build a nutrient rich humus (compost); one of the best fertilizers for your garden. Feed your veggies and divert organic waste from the landfill!
John Castell
ENGLISH/FRENCH
Roll up your sleeves with Shelley Shantz from La Ferme Hirondelle and Eva Rehak from La Ferme Alva to get a head start on your 2021 garden plan! Shelley and Eva will share their home garden planning tips and guidance. This will be an interactive workshop; check your garden space measurements, and bring a notebook!
Shelley Shantz
Eva Rehak
ENGLISH
Planning on starting up a market garden? Claire May from Hayes Urban Teaching Farm and Greg & Tessa Burton from Willow Farm will share their knowledge and experience from two different perspectives. Do’s and don’ts? Ups and downs? Come hear about an active market garden and teaching space, and from some budding farmers building their business.
Claire May - Hayes Urban Teaching Farm
Greg Burton - Willow Farm
Open networking session or extended break!
Food For All will leave the Seedy Saturday zoom room open over the lunch hour. We encourage you to bring some food to eat while you get to know your gardening peers!
ENGLISH
Bring food to the heart of community! During this session, Amy Floyd will talk about the Raven Project’s “Growing a Better Future” initiative and the creation of a group in the Upper Nashwaak Valley called the Nashwaak Community Growers. She’ll share how this work has been structured, and how neighbours came together to map their local community assets (a practice called Asset Based Community Development). This session is part presentation and part discussion – so bring your community project ideas. Amy looks forward to hearing about and discussing these ideas with you!
Amy Floyd
FRENCH
Do you know where to start when it comes to sowing seeds? Jeanne d’Arc Lavoie of the Regroupement des jardiniers écologiques de la Péninsule acadienne wants to see you suc-SEED! Join an interactive session to see the process from start to finish.
Jeanne d’Arc Lavoie
ENGLISH (with French language support)
Gardeners and food growers are practical hardworking people. The work can be demanding and exhausting in the drive to get things done. This workshop is about how to get more satisfaction, fun and en-JOY-ment out of your gardening activities by including a place for art-making. It’s an introduction for beginning garden artists and a refreshed new perspective for those with more experience. We’ll be discussing how to approach art-making and utilize a garden art journal through simple awareness and drawing exercises.
What participants will need:
We will keep it simple. Come with blank paper and a soft pencil if you want to stick to basics. For myself, I like colour and choose to work with pencil crayons or watercolour pencils. Feel free to bring other drawing implements that you might enjoy. Variety is good.
To find your subject matter, go outside and choose some natural objects like twigs, dried leaves, pine cones, garden debris, lichens, seed pods, dead plants, etc. See how many different things you can find. More is better. You can also choose houseplants or fruits and vegetables from your fridge, or even colourful seeds. After all, this is Seedy Saturday! Something that has been or is still alive from the plant world.
Come to the class ready with your drawing supplies and collected subject matter.
Maïna Béland-Rahm
Elaine Mandrona
Steph has worked with The Bauta Family Initiative on Canadian Seed Security since its launch in 2013, bringing expertise in communications, facilitation, and program design. Steph has a Bachelor's degree in International Development Studies from St. Mary’s University, and ten years’ experience working in the non-profit sector in Nova Scotia and internationally on land conservation, environmental justice, and regional food security. When she isn’t helping Canadians make the connection between food, seed, and social change, Steph is busy hiking, swimming, and working towards her masters degree in adult education. (she/her, Halifax)
John Castell, BSc, MSc, PHD and postdoctoral Fellow University of Minnesota. A former Research scientist with Fisheries and Oceans from 1970 until retirement in 2003, John is involved with many community initiatives.
John took the Master Composter Course with Fredericton Backyard Composters, and the Master Gardener course at the University of Florida. He also supported the creation and management of the Saint Andrews Community garden and it’s composters. John has also taught vermiculture and backyard composting to school children, garden clubs, community garden organizations, at corporate lunch and learn sessions, at the Fall Fair at the Ganong Nature Park, for a CHCO-TV presentation and on zoom web presentations.
Having moved to NB 10 years ago, Shelley and her husband Aaron bought an old farm and jumped into homesteading headlong and with some naivety. Through trial and error, and after working on various farms in BC, Alberta and NB, Shelley realized that the garden was where her passions lay. Four years ago the homestead transitioned into L’Hirondelle Farm, a market garden that grows for the Bouctouche Farmer’s Market, the Food Depot Alimentaire and produces a small summer CSA (community supported agriculture). The farm also produces pasture raised chickens for eggs and meat and makes all sorts of preserves from the garden. Shelley has 2 boys, Griffen and Clem, who join in on the farm when the wind blows the right way. The farm also has an ever-changing number of livestock depending on what hare-brained scheme Aaron has at the time. One exciting addition is a horse in the spring!
Eva studied as an Agriculture technicien at the University of Guelph. She is a shareholder of Ferme ALVA Farm, a small scale Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) organic farm, located in Saint-Maurice, NB. Eva has been farming here since 2010, with her partner and 3 kids. They provide vegetables to over 100 families through their CSA program, and the farmers markets. They grow on just a little over 2 acres, including 3 greenhouses used for early spring crops all the way to late fall.
Claire May was born and raised in Fredericton and explored several paths (and much of Canada!) before making her way back to New Brunswick in 2010, and into food systems and farming in 2012. She began volunteering with the Hayes Farm project in 2016, took part in the pilot Regenerative Farming Certificate program in 2018, and then moved into her current role as Hayes Farm Program Coordinator in the fall of that year. She began her own market garden operation in Gagetown last season, and is thrilled to split her time between both operations.
Willow Farm is a family-run mixed vegetable farm located in the beautiful Memramcook valley in south-eastern New Brunswick. The farm is owned and operated by Tessa Kautzman and Gregory Burton.
Incorporated as a general partnership in August of 2020, the name dates back to the 18th century, referring colloquially to the house and property established in 1796. We’re committed to feeding our community fresh, nutrient dense produce by focusing on farming practices that maintain and improve soil fertility, structure and biodiversity.
Over the coming seasons they’ll be expanding their farm share program, maintaining their table at the Sackville market, and establishing a roadside vegetable stand. They have big plans, high hopes, and a lot of energy, and are excited to continue serving their local community!
Amy lives with her partner Drew in Taymouth, where they live off-grid and have large gardens. Taymouth is in the Nashwaak Valley watershed, which is Wolastoqey traditional territory.
Amy works with the RAVEN Project as a Senior Food Security Policy Analyst. RAVEN (Rural Action and Voices for the Environment) is an activist media and research project. RAVEN works with and supports champions for sustainable rural communities and the environment in New Brunswick. The project uses participatory methods to study how alternative digital media can transform perceptions of rural communities and support environmental justice.
A native of Quebec, Jeanne d’Arc moved to NB in 2010. Since then, she has been passionate about gardening and introducing as many people to it as possible. Food security is a personal priority of Jeanne d’Arc’s, which is why she founded the organic gardening group ”Regroupement des jardiniers écologiques de la Péninsule acadienne” in 2016. Jeanne d'Arc also gives talks on budgeting, food shopping on a budget, and is currently producing a series of videos on gardening.
Whether it be through activism, creation, facilitation, performance, or day-to-day interactions, Maïna finds meaning in knowledge sharing and helping people connect and care for each other. They are the Community Food Mentors (CFM) Program Coordinator at Food For All NB and an active member of [elephants] collective.
Elaine Mandrona is a CFM who believes that growing food and making art is the perfect combo for creative satisfaction. To that end she has coordinated several projects teaching gardening and art to both children and adults. Now retired from her most recent work as a registered massage therapist she's launched into food activism with an ever-expanding urban garden and lots of new projects involving community food actions, journalism and video-making with her husband. With a revived passion for painting in watercolour, her favourite subjects are landscapes, birds and plants. She says she is happiest when making things and keeps motivated by asking herself “If not now, when?”
